STANDING TALL IN DUBAI, MARCH 2013

4/5/2013

When using frequent flyer miles, it is always good to try and get as much bang as possible for your air mile buck. With that in mind, after visiting my Mum in the UK, I decided to stopover in Dubai on my way back to Singapore.

I have never been to the UAE before, it, and Dubai in particular, has been on my bucket list of places to visit for a while. I have some awesome friends who live there, so it was a great opportunity to catch up with them, check out their place, and the mighty Burj Khalifa!

The Burj Khalifa is pretty impressive. My friends live within five minutes walking distance of the Burj and the massive Dubai Mall which is linked to it. The Mall is the largest in the World, with an internal floor space of 5.9 million square feet, 95 elevators and 150 escalators. It was interesting to see so many American and British stores and restaurants in the Mall which also boasts an Ice Rink, Aquarium and Cinema.

The Burj Khalifa, tallest tower in the World. Flanked by the huge Dubai Mall and water fountains.

Outside the Mall is the waterfront promenade and the amazing water fountains, known as the Dubai Water Fountain. These fountains are choreographed to music, and are quite a sight to behold, whether the performance is a daytime or night time one. Some facts from the Dubai Water Fountain website.

"Set on the 30-acre Burj Khalifa Lake, the fountain shoots water jets as high as 500 ft (150 metres), equivalent to that of a 50-storey building. The fountain is 900 ft (275 metres) long and has five circles of varying sizes and two central arcs. It has been designed by California-based WET, the creators of the Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas.

The Dubai Fountain performs daily, with the performance repertoire including Sama Dubai; Baba Yetu, an award-winning song in Swahili; the Arab world’s top-selling dance number Shik Shak Shok; and the signature piece of world-renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, Con te partiro (Time to Say Goodbye).

Over 6,600 WET Superlights – the most advanced incandescent large fountain lights available today – and 25 colour projectors create a visual spectrum of over 1,000 abstract attractions. The beam of light shining upward from the fountain can be seen from over 20 miles away, and will be visible from space making it the brightest spot in the Middle East, and quite possibly in the entire world.

• World’s largest dancing fountain
• In sync with classical, Arabic and world music
• 1.5 million lumens of projected light
• Spray heights of up to 500 feet
• 22,000 gallons of airborne water
• Set in Burj Khalifa Lake, right outside The Dubai Mall on Lower Ground Waterfront Promenade in the heart of Downtown Dubai."

STANDING TALL - THE MIGHTY BURJ KHALIFA,

Aaagh! Let's get back to The Burj Khalifa! It really is the epicenter of Dubai, and tourists flock to it by the coach load every day. It is pretty magnetic and I had a hard time to not take more and more photos (it is actually hard to fit the whole thing into a photo). If you want all the lovely facts and figures about "The Burj", please click here, Wikipedia can fill you in lol!

My friend got us tickets to go and experience "At The Top" so I was super excited.

After waiting in line, and going through security, we finally got into the elevator and zipped up 124 floors! Moving 10m per second, it was lightning fast, awesome!!

At The Top, is the 360° observation deck and some absolutely astounding views. We were up there just as the sun was starting to set which was magnificent.

See below some of my pictures, taken from the top of the tower. The black circles you can see in the first picture on the left, are the fountains. The big tall building in the bottom middle photo is a super Hotel called,The Address!

All in all I had a fabulous week in Dubai with my friends. I visited the Old Gold Souk, a magnificent older section of Dubai with wall to wall jewelry stores.

We took a water taxi from the Old Gold Souk, over "The Creek" which was full of Dhows unloading goods galore. We even saw a stack of brand new fridges!

A water taxi ride across "The Creek".

Dhows unloading goods.

The Old Gold Souk with its wall to wall jewelry stores.

On the other side, we explored a wonderful arty district called Bastakiyya Heritage Village. Lunch was in a wonderful cafe called the Arabian Tea House. The temperature in March was perfect, warm but no humidity, perfect for eating outdoors.

The Arabian Tea House Cafe

We spent some time on Jumeirah Beach. It was fun to watch the kite surfers do their thing. We even stayed on one day to watch the sun go down. In the far distance in the sunset photo, you can see the yacht belonging to the ruler of Dubai, His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Yes that is his yacht, not a cruise ship!! (Probably not that much difference actually!)